Lisa Occhino

When the earthquake shook Japan last March, it did not take long before both the independent and mainstream artists started their move to help the disastrous country in recovering from the rubble. One artist specially captured our attention – Lisa Occhino, a young artist blessed with a beautiful voice and a thoughtful heart.

Lisa is an award-winning pianist, songwriter, and singer whom we adore for her compelling passion for music and charity. With various music genres on her palate including pop, rock, R&B, jazz, alternative, country, and Latin, Occhino is always capable of expressing evocative messages to her music. Her first EP Discovery, where she performed all the lead vocals, harmonies, and piano, is just an appetizer to what this young lady can do.

Just recently, Lisa sang live on FOX New CT’s morning show to promote the Love Conquers All: Music for Japan compilation, on which her song “The Pain Behind Your Eyes” from her EP is featured. Along with Lisa, over 40 other songwriters from the Berklee Community took part in this charitable deed where 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Save the Children’s disaster relief for Japan.

This is not the first time Lisa helped out through her music. She is also passionate about providing children with the opportunity to be exposed to music so she donates 20% of every purchase of a hard copy of her first EP to the Stamford Young Artists Philharmonic Outreach music program.

Lisa is currently an honors student majoring in Music Business/Management at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, which awarded her the Songwriting and Composition Scholarship. Lisa is also slated to have her original song “I Do It Better” on the 2011 Music Xray Hit Song Compilation – Great Tracks from Independent Acts, Pop-Rock Vol. 1 produced by Flicknife Records, an independent record label in the United Kingdom.

We at Indie Update are very excited to hear more of Lisa’s musical achievements this year. Her EP Discovery generally features songs of a sweet, youthful, and emotive female artist. “A More Beautiful World,” “I Wish I Was Over You,” “The Pain Behind Your Eyes” are the more emotional songs from the EP while “I Do Better”, “I Still Believe,” and “Surrounded” are pretty upbeat and more vibrant. If you love piano, heartwarming lyrics, and soft mellow vocals, you should check Lisa’s Discovery.

This Sunday on Memorial Day(May 29), she’ll be performing for her second time at Manhattan’s oldest and most famous rock club, The Bitter End, where music legends like Miles Davis, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Bette Midler and more have launched their careers. Last year, she was among the less than 1% of songwriters under age 18 who showcased their originals in front of the club’s famous brick wall.

Check out Lisa Occhino’s Official Website to know more information about her latest gigs. You may watch Lisa’s live performances on her YouTube channel or like her on Facebook for more updates.